


The Past Returns, Again

by lasairfhiona



Series: Finding Love [1]
Category: CSI: Miami
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-25
Updated: 2010-11-25
Packaged: 2017-10-13 09:15:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/135641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lasairfhiona/pseuds/lasairfhiona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Horatio's first love comes to Miami</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Past Returns, Again

Horatio watched as Calleigh headed toward were Frank sat with their witness.  When he saw her sit down next to the woman, he returned to his conversation with the officers first on the scene and the new ME.  It was times like this he missed Alexx and the rhythm she had with his team. He knew the new ME just needed time to adjust to them and develop a rhythm. It was frustrating that he had to spend time asking for information that used to be given before he could ask. It was a well known fact he wasn't always the best with change, especially change that affected his ability to do his job.

For some reason he kept looking back toward Calleigh and their witness.  It wasn't that he didn't trust Calleigh.  He did, probably more than any one else on his team.  It was the witness. He couldn't put a finger on it. There was this gut instinct telling him to watch her.  He couldn't see anything more than the mid back length deep auburn hair and glimpses of her hand as she spoke.  Maybe it was the tilt of her head or how she held herself that had him watching her more than he was listening to Officer Wilson.

Giving up, Horatio excused himself and headed toward where Calleigh and their witness sat.  The closer he got to them he noticed the woman was close to his own age and her hair was tinged with grey. When he heard Calleigh say his name and saw the witness turn to him, his past came back in one fell swoop. Finding it hard to breathe all he could say was "Kerri," as he first took her hands in his then pulled her into an embrace.

She had been home for the weekend during her freshman year of college at Cornell and he had been a rookie cop in uniform.  They had met at an ice cream stand in central park near the stable were she rode when she came home for the weekend.  For four years they had Thursday though Sunday and summers together in the little brownstone her parents had set up for her.  She was what held him together when his mother died. She stood by him through the ensuing IAB enquiry after he shot his father. She was his everything back then and it was only the difficulty of maintaining a long distance relationship when she moved to California to go to UC Berkley for her graduate degree that broke them up all those years ago.  For a long time she had been the measure by which he judged the women who came into his life.  It had taken him a long time to realise there wouldn't be another Kerri.

Knowing the others were watching them, he pulled back and looked down on her with a soft smile.  "Were you hurt?" he asked touching the bandage on her arm.

"Just superficial," she answered, before reaching up and stroking his face.  "We got old Horatio," she added too quite for the others to hear.

He just took her hand in his and kissed her finger tips. 

"She was grazed by one of the stray bullets," Frank added to her answer, clarifying the injury she was playing down.

"Have you been cleared by the EMTs?" he asked running his fingers along the bandage.

"Yes, they said I could go but I shouldn't drive, something about my blood pressure still being too high for their liking."

"Where are you staying?" he asked, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear in a practiced but unconscious gesture.

"I'm at the Four Seasons," she answered with a smile.

"I'll drive you," Horatio told her, as he turned, keeping an arm around her.  "Calleigh, will you finish up here? I'll meet you back at the lab once I drop Kerri at her hotel."

He didn't stay to see her nod or the questioning look they received from both Calleigh and Frank. Horatio knew there would be questions and that he would to have to give them an explanation, but that could come later. Once he figured out how to.  Explaining the relationship he and Kerri once had, what they were to each other wouldn't be easy. There had been so much between them that went beyond friends, beyond lovers, to say they complete each other sounded trite. It was the closest he could come to describing what they had been together. This trip into his past would be more sweet than bitter, even if all it turned out to be was dinner between old friends. Although he had no intention of letting her out of his life again, even if all they ever end up as is friends


End file.
